The news came in a rapid-fire sequence this week: Sunday morning’s newspaper reported that Tom Flatley, the Irish-born developer and Boston philanthropist died after a battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. The same front page told the story of Senator Ted Kennedy’s emergency helicopter transport from the Cape to Mass General, suffering from a seizure. Two days later came the news that our senior senator has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Both men were full of vigor, great leaders in the community, and their lives have had profound effects on the lives of Bostonians. Now one is gone, the other is just beginning a life chapter that many others have endured in the fight to overcome cancer.
I fondly recall two recent personal contacts with them: Last summer, in an interview about his philanthropy, I asked Tom Flatley to comment about then-current stories that he had fallen ill. “Well, I have too much mercury in my system,” he told me. ” But I am going to fight it, because I always believe winners never quit, and quitters never win.” The Milton man fought the fight, but ultimately succumbed.
Two weekends ago I was a guest at a Kennedy Library dinner for the 2008 Profiles in Courage award winners, and the Senator was there. I noted how he struggled to walk to the podium, the man evidently coping all these years with chronic back pain. Yet when he took the microphone, the timber of his voice was as strong as always, looking every bit the strong, healthy 76 year old. His good humor was in evidence as he sang a duet with a professional singer who had won a Tony for her performance in the musical “Cats.”
Later, I caught a glimpse of the Senator’s face as he sat at a table across the room with his wife and his niece Caroline, and I smiled to realize how fortunate we are to have benefited from these historic years of public service from this sole surviving Kennedy son.
Also this week, a friend e-mailed: “My dear friend, Shirley Mayo, passed last week, from lung cancer. It was shocking news – she was diagnosed only the week before – and it is just one more reminder that life is too damned short.”
I had met Shirley just once, one day last September, when she arrived at a family party at my house. When she was introduced as a New Yorker, I asked, “Mets or Yankees?” She said “Yankees” – and I told her she was welcome anyway, and we had a good laugh. Then she joined a happy party sing-along, and seemingly had a great time. That she is now gone, so soon after and so quickly, is sad.
My marvelous old friend Ed Madden, himself a cancer victim a decade ago, had it right. Readers will remember his wonderful columns, with his advice to “Carpe diem” – seize the day, keep yourself open to all opportunities and do not waste any of your life’s time pining away for something that might – or might not – happen in the unforeseen future.
Tom Flatley is gone. Shirley Mayo is gone. We grieve their loss. And Teddy is here and still with us. These brief stories of three people whose lives have intersected however briefly with mine are a reminder to celebrate all the days of our lives – they are to be cherished.
